Yarinacocha, December 5th 2015: Today on the 5th of December 2015 we, the Federación de Comunidades Nativas del Ucayali – FECONAU (Federation of Native Communities of Ucayali) representing 35 communities of the Shipibo-Konibo indigenous people from the Ucayali region and Santa Clara de Uchunya, located in Requena, Ucayali region in Peru, presented our formal complaint to the RSPO mechanism against the company Plantaciones de Pucallpa SAC, member of the RSPO.

Since 2013, this company has seriously affected the ancestral territory of the community, generating serious impacts on ancient forests, streams, animals, and medicinal plants that are a food source for the community.

“We cannot drink clean water, our streams have been closed and destroyed, hunting and fishing grounds have been fully damaged, and our children are the most affected. We demand that the Peruvian state respect and ensure the titling of our ancestral territory”, strongly noted the chief of the community Joel Nunta Valera.

Meanwhile during the COP21 held in Paris, Robert Guimaraes Vásquez, president of FECONAU, stated and demanded that the Peruvian state assume its international commitments such as the ILO Convention 169 and the Declaration of the United Nations and, that under the commitment to zero deforestation, the state should issue an exemplary sanction to all the companies that violated the Peruvian laws and the collective rights of indigenous peoples.

Plantaciones de Pucallpa SAC is one of the partner companies of the Denis Melka group which is affecting the lives and destroying the forests and territories of the Santa Clara de Uchunya community.